Chat and Chew Cafe

Saturday mornings usually bring a break in the daily routine of getting up early and rushing around to get to work on time. But today was an exception. Joseph and his confirmation class boarded a bus at 6:00 a.m. to drive up to Minneapolis an inner city experience. They'll be working with kids in south Minneapolis, preparing breakfast at a soup kitchen, and sleeping at a homeless shelter. This is my old stomping ground, and even though Joe has spent lots of time in the city, I'm grateful that Pastor Dennis organizes this event. It wasn't just Joe that had an early morning wake up call. Vincent was at a middle school lock-in at the Preston Middle School about twenty miles away. He needed to be picked up at 7:00 a.m. So the alarms were set for 5:00 a.m. and we got everyone up and dressed and out the door to deliver Joe to church and then off to Preston to pick up Vincent.

Of course, when we were half way to Preston, Vincent called reminding us that we needed to pick him up. Dennis loves to tease, so he acted like he was still in bed and had totally forgotten. We could hear the disappointment in his voice, since he thought it would be another 45 minutes before someone would fetch him.

Once we had Vincent in the car, we thought it would be fun to go out to breakfast. We drove to Lanesboro and had breakfast at the Chew and Chat cafe. To my surprise, our waitress was Jessica, one of my students. What a fun connection! Small town cafes are a world all their own. This one was filled with all the good old boys talking weather, taxes, politics, farming, and the rising Red River up north over their morning coffee. It really is nice to have someone else make the pancakes and hash browns.

Once home, Vincent crashed on the couch and the rest of us went to work. Dennis and Tyler in the barn and Mac and I in the house. We washed and packed eggs, cleaned the kitchen and dining room, and got ready to start seeds. Our good friend Andy, drove down from Farmington to spend the day with us. It was good to see him and share a meal together. He and Dennis messed about in the barn, groomed some horses, cut down some dead trees, and got hay.

I haven't been in the mood to start seeds until now. I finally got all receipts entered and the financial records organized so our accountant can prepare our taxes. With that behind me, I am ready to think about Spring. So with some help from Tyler, I started tomatoes, eggplant, and some herbs. Now I need to figure out a schedule for starting the rest of the seeds. And oh yeah, I need to call the sheep shearer - we've got to get the sheep sheared.